That Feeling of Being Too Busy and Losing Track of Time

Somewhere about a month ago I lost my mojo for writing about our trip. It wasn't helped by the fact that I didn't have my iPad for awhile, and haven't had even a decent cell signal in some of the places we have been. And sometimes I'm just too busy doing it to think about it or write about it. Now I'm all together with my technology, and I'm going to try to catch up, but as our old friend Charles Bukowski said, the days run away like wild horses over the hills.

We had a wonderful time in the spectacular Sedona, which is simply one of the most beautiful places in the world. Well, I haven't seen much of the world, so let's just say one of the most beautiful places in this country. (But I suspect the world is right.) We stayed outside Sedona at a state park in a very sweet little town called Cottonwood. I fell in love with Cottonwood, and it is just about as cute as a town could get. We had a little fantasy about spending part of the year there, and a darned good fantasy it was.

Sedona is so beautiful that it takes your breath away.

Sedona landscape

Such blue skies and such red rock

It's a bit too much of a "resort town," which is why I think I might rather live nearby instead. We had a fun conversation about how different the trip would be if we were "auditioning" places to live instead of just visiting. Besides Cottonwood seeming pretty close to perfect, we spent an afternoon in Flagstaff, and it was wonderful. I was all ready to pick that as my new fantasy, but Flagstaff is quite cold and snowy in winter, so it's hard to see how that would improve anything for me in my fantasy life. But what a great place that is. I hope I get a chance to spend more time there some day.

Our campsite in Cottonwood at sunset

The most amazing place we went while I was "gone" from this journal was Joshua Tree National Park. That is one amazing place. We have seen a lot of interesting environments of mountains and rock formations and desert. Each of them has been wonderful and unique. But Joshua Tree is just amazing. It seems more like a science fiction western movie than a real place. There are so many different landscapes there, still inside the park, and each one seems more amazing than the last. Besides the Joshua trees, which are all by themselves worth a trip,

What interesting trees!

Joshua Tree landscape

Cholla cactus field

there are big boulders, acres and acres of cactus, tall mountains that give you a view for dozens of miles, and just the empty empty empty land and sky that make the desert such an amazing place. It seems rather unbelievable that people lived in the desert before the invention of air conditioning. I felt glad not to be there in summer! But when you are there on a beautiful warm day, and then get to sleep all bundled up in the covers at night because it's quite cold, it seems pretty delightful. Great walks, great drives, and an afternoon trip to Pioneer Town, which I definitely should have taken pictures of, because it's quite a place. Lots of western movies were shot there a long time ago, and it's still an interesting place to visit. It's not quite like a ghost town, but it has an interesting "movie set" feel. We visited the well-known Pappy and Harriet's bar and restaurant, and weren't too surprised to hear some people sitting at the bar talking about the musician Gram Parsons, who died at the Joshua Tree Inn back when it was the only motel in town. When there really wasn't even a town.

People sitting at the bar discussing Gram Parsons

After leaving Joshua Tree, we spent the next couple of weeks visiting friends and family in Southern California. Abbie and Hannah, and Abbie's boyfriend Mugo, joined us in San Diego, although only Hannah stayed outside the city with us at the campground. We had some wonderful times with family, and with friends that feel like family. It was so hard to leave them, but I can't say I will miss the freeways and the traffic and congestion. At this moment, however, we are in a campground in a state park in Laguna Beach, and I can hear the crash of the ocean waves while I'm writing this. There are the compensations!

Tomorrow it is on to Los Angeles for a couple of days, more friends and family, and a Dodgers game, which will be great because I haven't been there since I was a kid. I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the good parts and not so good parts of where I grew up and where I live now...and all the places I might live if I were trying to figure it out based on this trip. What a big country this is! And so many incredibly diverse landscapes and environments. I feel so lucky to see so much of it.